Steve Bannon is under "criminal" investigation for voter registration fraud

Impact

The Miami-Dade County state attorney's office is continuing "an active criminal" investigation of President Donald Trump's chief strategist and former Breitbart chief Stephen Bannon for voter registration fraud.

News of the investigation comes by way of the Washington Post — which reported Bannon's decision to register as a voter in Florida while he simultaneously owned a house in Southern California and regularly stayed in New York and Washington, D.C. — and continues to interest local authorities.

Bannon apparently registered to vote in Florida at a now-vacant house his accountants paid $5,500 monthly for his third ex-wife, Diane Clohesy, to occupy, at the same time he told the landlord of that property he was living there but traveling.

Neighbors said they never saw Bannon at the property. However, the Post report is full of bizarre, horror movie-esque details about incidents at the house under Clohesy's residency. Said stories included odd visitors and loud noise at all hours of the night, police reports of ex-boyfriends stalking her there, and property damage worth tens of thousands, like removed or padlocked doors and a bathtub the landlord said looked like had been damaged by "acid."

Yes, acid.

Willfully submitting false information while registering to vote in Florida is a third-degree felony which could come with up to five years in prison, the Guardian reported.

As the Miami Herald noted, while the "active criminal" phrasing suggests investigators are taking the voter registration fraud claim seriously, "local prosecutors are notoriously slow in closing out investigations that lead nowhere. And, six months later, it appears that little has come from the Bannon case."

Bannon never actually voted in Florida, likely lowering the odds of the case coming to prosecution.